Bangladesh all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s maiden ton and pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman’s brace put Bangladesh in firm control against West Indies after Day 2 of the first Test match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Thursday.
Miraz’s 168-ball 103 propelled Bangladesh to a challenging first innings total of 430. Then with his fiery pace bowling, Mustafizur scalped two wickets of the Windies batsmen. West Indies, however, managed to regroup at the latter stage of the Day and scored 75/2. They now trail by 355 runs. For Windies, interim skipper Kraigg Brathwaite was on 49 with debutant Nkrumah Bonner on 17.
Earlier on Day 2, Miraz’s significant impact in building three important alliances helped Bangladesh to post a commanding total. He shared a 67-run partnership with Shakib Al Hasan for the seventh wicket stand before adding more 45-run with Taijul Islam for the eighth wicket stand and further 67 with Nayeem Hasan for the ninth wicket stand.
His alliance with Shakib was pivotal after Bangladesh continued Day 2 on 242/5 and lost Liton Das early in the mooring. At 248/6, Shakib resisted and brought up his 25th half century. He dealt swiftly with the resolute Windies spinners and kept the scoreboard moving along with Miraz.
Shakib’s resistance finally broke as spinner Rakheem Cornwall dismissed him. Before returning to the pavilion Shakib scored 150-ball 68, comprised with 5 boundaries.
Miraz, who so far was playing as a second fiddle to Shakib, finally unleashed himself with some authoritative strokes from his gamut. He then reached his fifty of 99 balls and started to put his ascendency over the Windies bowlers. He grew with more confidence, with ably support from Taijul and Nayeem.
Tigers’ fans were probably a bit frustrated after seeing the other batsmen fail to convert good starts into a big innings during Day 1 of the Test. However, to the fans’ delight, Miraz reached his maiden century milestone. Miraz’s 168-ball 103 was comprised with 13 scintillating boundaries.